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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: straw · game · ground · bank · spring · bat · rule · bark

  1. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. ground — crushed
  5. ground — a position
  6. rule — a law
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. game — a match
  10. bark — to shout
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. bank — of a river
  15. bank — for money
  16. spring — a coil
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. spring — the season
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. ground — the earth
  21. rule — government
  22. spring — of water
  23. game — wild animals
  24. bat — in an idiom

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com